[truth_seeker]

One million (or fewer) primitive people exhausted the natural resources of South America?

I find that difficult to believe, so I don’t.

[Vigilanteman]

Actually, not. A hunter-gatherer culture needs far more land area to survive than an agricultural culture. A more recent case in point was the Comanchee, who reigned supreme over what is now the western 2/3rds of Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, the eastern third of Colorado and New Mexico and vast swaths of northern Mexico from 1668-1868.

Their peak population was never more than about 40,000 for a territory so vast. Just for contrast, the epicenter of their civilization, the 125 square mile city of Lubbock, Texas, now supports a population of over four times that size.

A more recent example was the island of Guam which, during the 31 months of Japanese occupation, supported a population of more than three times the pre-war levels PLUS was a major exporter of rice to Japan.

[T-Bone Texan]

"One million (or fewer) primitive people exhausted the natural resources of South America?

I find that difficult to believe, so I don’t."

But but but, they were Superhunters!